The Thatch Inn, 57 Main Street, Broughshane, Co. Antrim, BT42 4JP

The Thatch Inn is a two-storey thatched public house and restaurant occupying a prominent roadside position at the centre of Broughshane village. It is one of only a few two-storey thatched buildings remaining in Northern Ireland and represents an important example of this rare building type.

The building is finished in roughcast and whitewash, with a thatched roof between cement skews. The ridge is of wrap-over type with cut eaves at an angle, and features exposed rows of scallops at both the ridge and eaves. The front elevation is entered via a sheeted and studded folding door. All windows are 6/6 vertically-sliding sashes set in exposed boxes. There are three windows to the left of the entrance and two to the right on the ground floor, with six windows on the upper floor corresponding in position with the openings below. All openings and the extremities of the structure are finished with plain dressings coloured black. The name of the Inn is painted onto a fascia protected by a cornice hood on brackets. A painted Royal coat of arms is positioned centrally on the first floor, with a similar sign projecting from the right-hand end of the elevation. Small top-hung windows are present in the gables. The rear elevation retains an arrangement of plain sashed windows, mostly vertically sliding, though this has been partially obscured by modern extensions designed to complement the main building in proportion and finishes, including natural slate roofs.

The main elements of the internal layout remain intact, though upgraded in parts to accommodate the building's current function. The roof structure has been strengthened using cut timbers and steel, but the early construction remains in place.

A building is recorded on this site on the Ordnance Survey map of 1832-33 and on all subsequent maps. The property was valued around 1833 as old at that date, suggesting 18th-century origins. An advertisement in The Belfast News-Letter of 19 May 1789 records a long-established inn in Broughshane known as the O'Neill's Arms under the management of William Weir at that time; it is possible this refers to the present building, though this cannot be confirmed with certainty. The 1833 valuation records the property in the hands of William Logan, an innkeeper, with dimensions of 51½ by 22½ by 16½ feet and 50 by 18½ by 6 feet, and a rateable value of £6-7-0. By the 1861 valuation, the main structure retained the same dimensions, with slated offices of 25½ by 19 by 16 feet and 50 by 11½ by 5 feet, and an old thatched office of 49 by 18½ by 5 feet. At this stage the property was a public house and good business concern in the hands of Francis Graham, leasing from William Thompson, with a rateable value of £13-15-0. Francis Graham was succeeded as leaseholder by Agnes Graham in 1880, who sublet the property to David Russell from around 1884 to 1906. In 1889 or slightly earlier, some outbuildings were demolished and the rateable value lowered by £2, though by 1906 it had risen to £12-15-0. Josias Graham is listed as occupant from 1907 until at least 1929. Some sources suggest the coat of arms on the front commemorates an impromptu visit by an English sovereign, though this appears unlikely; the arms possibly originally represented the O'Neill family crest, later transformed into those of the monarchy, either mistakenly or deliberately. The building remains an imposing and important element in the Main Street of Broughshane and features in numerous tourism-related publications.